AOL Suitors Face a Vexing Split-Up

As suitors line up for a piece of America Online, one vexing issue has arisen: how to separate AOL's shrinking Internet-access business from its more attractive Web-content assets.

None of the companies known to be expressing interest in taking a stake in AOL -- Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., which is working loosely with Comcast Corp., and the most recent prospective bidder to emerge, Yahoo Inc. -- has much interest in investing in...